Today is my last stop at the Kansai American Center in Osaka on a whirlwind speaking tour to discuss the new public diplomacy of the Obama Administration. This week began in Tokyo, Japan with a brown bag lunch with US embassy staff followed by an evening lecture sponsored by the Tokyo American Center. Director Ann Kambara offered a terrific venue for this event, which was moderated by the well-known environment and information studies professor, Dr. Yasushi Watanabe of Keio University.
Tuesday night’s talk focused on social media and public diplomacy. The Apple Store in Ginza was generous enough to offer a free lecture room for us. We were greeted by Gary Hutcherson, Market Manager for all of Apple throughout Japan. In my Ginza talk, I shared the pros and cons of Twitter, Facebook, government-led social networking efforts and the technophilia permeating the public diplomacy arena. My bottom line message was this: There is no substitute for that proverbial “last three feet” that Edward R. Murrow talked about nearly fifty years ago when he served as Director of the U.S. Information Agency. As much as I enjoy using the new media, one should not spread yourself too thin. Try to stick to a few social media sites that work for you. For instance, I tried Second Life and didn’t get beyond creating my avatar, Snokinawa Gummibaum. I really like that name but where does she go from there? Perhaps someone can give me a quick lesson on alternative identities.
Wednesday morning I jetted off to Fukuoka for an afternoon discussion led by Tracy Taylor, Director of the Fukuoka American Center. I was pleased to see a lot of students in attendance with some good observations about the costs and benefits of study abroad. I told the group that the US-Japan relationship is so important given our shared histories and ability to forgive. I almost got a little teary-eyed about the need to secure our good bilateral relations, even in the face of differences on national and economic security.
Thursday my interpreter Masumi Mori and I took the Shinkansen from Fukuoka to Nagoya. My evening talk was pure joy, in great part due to the excellent moderating capabilities of media studies professor Dr. Sangmi Kim of the University of Nagoya. She had so much insight into the use of new media in Japan. I could have just heard her speak about this topic, but alas, I gave my talk on public diplomacy, not only what it entails but also different schools of thought on its definition. I explained that Public Diplomacy (PD) has grown up a lot from the 20th Century Cold War style to the post-9/11 War on Terror emphasis to the more multilateral, multimedia, multigenerational orientation of the Obama presidency. A cautionary note for all things public diplomacy from the presidency on down: Words alone will not change minds or behavior.
